The History of Campaign Finance Reform in the United States of America
Assignment Overview: Follow the hyperlinks below to help you answer each question. You will discover how laws, scandals, and court decisions have helped limit money’s powerful influence in politics.
Assignment Overview: Follow the hyperlinks below to help you answer each question. You will discover how laws, scandals, and court decisions have helped limit money’s powerful influence in politics.
Great Internet Resources:
1. SIRS Timelineà Username & Password = pgcps
2. NPR’s Timeline of Campaign Finance Reform
3. The Campaign Legal Center
4. Campaign Finance Glossary
5. The Oyez Project
Timeline Questions:
1. What year was the Tillman Act passed? How did the Tillman Act affect the financing of political campaigns?
2. How did the Taft-Hartley Act (1947) limit campaign contributions?
3. Describe the most important legal provisions of the Federal Elections Campaign Act (FECA) of 1971.
4. What causes the changes to FECA in 1974? List the amendments made to FECA in 1974.
5. How did the Supreme Court case Buckley v. Valeo (1976) affect campaign finance reform?
6. Describe the most important legal provisions of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (2002) aka ‘McCain-Feingold Act’.
7. How did the Supreme Court case McConnell v. FEC (2003) change the ‘McCain-Feingold Act’?
8. How did the Supreme Court case Federal Election Commission v. Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc. (2007) change the ‘McCain-Feingold Act’?
9. Explain how the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission(2010) expands the ability for more money to affect elections.